letters of july, 2001

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• key for colour of text:

green text is text of the letter.
white text is my reply or correspondence initiated by me.
cyan text is an inserted note.

• letters are separated by grey lines.
  

26 july 2001
a letter from a visistor at the site.
Hi,
My parents were born in Guyana. My mother is from Rosehall, and my Father is
from Georgetown. I was born in Queens, New York in 1972. I have 2 younger
brothers who are also American.
I feel that you are making a general statement regarding all Guyanese people
here in America.
If you would kill and die for your country, then why are you in America? Just
like any other country, why are they in America if their country is so great?
There are all sorts of parades of different countries here with people
carrying on and misbehaving. Do you think that I can go to Colombia and
celebrate Independence Day and carry on the way people do here without being
arrested? NO.
I am proud to be American, and I don't curse and behave the way that you feel
that Guyanese Americans do. There is good and bad in everyone. It's not very
nice to go around making general statements like that.
I do agree that some guyanese people act inappropriately, I've seen them in
Richmond Hill, NY. But there are some of us who are civilized and
respectable. I am the type of person who says "hello" to my neighbors. But I
have noticed a lot of guyanese people who just turn their noses up when the
see another guyanese. This, I could never understand. My parents are very
different. They are educated and open-minded and I am glad to have had them
as parents compared to other guyanese parents. We were never allowed to speak
broken-english. My mother was an English teacher in Guyana then became a
nurse. In Guyana, back in the days, nurses were considered to be "bad girls".
My grandfather was the Police Chief Inspector of Georgetown. I love hearing
stories my parents tell me about Guyana and I love the way my Guyanese
friends speak with their accents, and they love the way that I speak with my
american accent.
All of my friends are of different cultures and we get along great. I just
feel that you shouldn't think that all of us Guyanese-Americans are bad.

Sincerely,
Jen

26 july 2001
my reply to the letter above.
hello,
i agree with a lot of what you said.
i know it sounds that i am making generalisations, but i'm not. i made it clear at my site that there ARE guyanese in america who live with pride and love for their culture; people like your parents.
many persons have asked me the same question: if you dislike america so much, then why are you here?
i'm here because after all that america has taken from us, educating us is a trivial return. i am not here to "make a life" or anything like that. i am here to gain knowledge, then return to guyana where i will use it wisely, and to the benefit of guyana.
i know that you feel i am making a lot of generalisations, but i am not. i guess that i'll have to make that more outstanding at the site, because it is important for people to know that i am aware of the 'good' guyanese in the u.s..
when i was younger, i had a mother similar to yours, but the bad thing was that when she insisted that we speak correct english, she always implied that we do it with an american accent.
i admire your parents, even though i don't know them. they are really good people.
i think i should say though, that when i speak of 'guyanese in america', i am referring to people born in guyana, now living in the u.s.
i feel that if a person has guyanese parents, but was born in america, then they shouldn't be expected to be a '100% guyanese'.
of course, the parents should try to show the child his/her roots, but we can't really expected the child to accept this culture entirely. it's his or her choice.
so, with no offense at all intended, whatever i say at the site, i don't direct any of it to you.
i think it's honest of you to admit that some guyanese in america do act inappropriately.
thank you very much for your email. it showed me in which ways i need to clarify my opinions.

the manager of guyanese in america are.

i received another letter from this person. that was in august, so read it here.

july 2001 -- page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | page 4